The Language of Yupiche

Natively known as: yupixe /juˈpiʧɛ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
te ku ru uraro kosu halope te kekeye nye ru nyeo luro malo
Pronunciation: /tɛ ku ru uˈrarɔ ˈkɔsu haˈlɔpɛ tɛ kɛˈkɛjɛ ɲɛ ru ˈɲɛɔ ˈlurɔ ˈmalɔ/
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Yupiche word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: c h j k l m n p r s t w ɲ ʧ

↓Manner/Place→ BilabialAlveolarPalato-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalmnɲ
Stopptck
Affricateʧ
Fricativesh
Approximantj
Trillr
Lateral approximantl

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→ Labial-velar
Approximantw

Vowel inventory: a i u ɔ ɛ


FrontBack
Highiu
Low-midɛɔ
Lowa
Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

PronunciationSpelling
ɔ o
ɛ e
c c
ʧ x
j y
ɲ ny

Grammar

Main word order: Subject (Prepositional phrase) Object Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary with a key the door opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

  • Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
  • Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
Nominative No affix
nyite /ˈɲitɛ/
dog (doing the verb)
Accusative Suffix -hɛ
nyitehe /ɲiˈtɛhɛ/
(verb done to) dog


Singular No affix
nyite /ˈɲitɛ/
dog
Plural Reduplicate first part of first syllable
nyinyite /ɲiˈɲitɛ/
dogs


Articles

Yupiche has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

Nominative Accusative
1st singular o /ɔ/
I
tu /tu/
me
2nd singular li /li/
you
pe /pɛ/
you
3rd singular ku /ku/
he, she, it
e /ɛ/
his, her, it
1st plural nya /ɲa/
we
ya /ja/
us
2nd plural ye /jɛ/
you all
u /u/
you all
3rd plural we /wɛ/
they
ra /ra/
them


Possessive determiners

Possessive
1st singular ra /ra/
my
2nd singular nyo /ɲɔ/
your
3rd singular ru /ru/
his, her, its
1st plural nyi /ɲi/
our
2nd plural le /lɛ/
your (pl)
3rd plural te /tɛ/
their


Verbs

Present No affix
larayu /laˈraju/
learn
Past Suffix -ji
larayuyi /ˌlaraˈjuji/
learned
Remote past Suffix -ha
larayuha /ˌlaraˈjuha/
learned (long ago)
Future Suffix -ni
larayuni /ˌlaraˈjuni/
will learn



Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).

Yupiche uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective Particle before the verb: ki -
ki larayu /ki laˈraju/
learns/is learning



Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.

Yupiche uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect Reduplicate first part of first syllable
lalarayu /ˌlalaˈraju/
have learned


Numbers

Yupiche has a base-10 number system:

1 - ku
2 - ka
3 - he
4 - ro
5 - le
6 - pi
7 - wa
8 - wuye
9 - komo
10 - nyu
100 - enyiro
1000 - lase

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -lu
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ca
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ma
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -na
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ka
Noun to verb = Suffix -ʧu
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -hɛ
Tending to = Suffix -pi
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ta
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -lɛ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -nɛ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ju
Diminutive = Suffix -ka
Augmentative = Suffix -rɛ

Yupiche - English Dictionary

Key: spelling /pronunciation/ part of speech. definition(s)

adj. adjective | adv. adverb | art. article | conj. conjunction | det. determiner | interj. interjection | n. noun | num. numeral | prep. preposition | pron. pronoun | v. verb